Aaron's 312 - Rookie Post-Race Quotes

CHAD BLOUNT, NO. 19 APP PRE-PAID GAS CARDS DODGE, 41ST (Accident):

"I seen Johnny (Sauter) go side down on the apron there and then come across the track. It was a lot of smoke and you really couldn't see what was going on. It was kind of one of those deals where you just hold your breath and close your eyes. There was no place we could go. It was just a racing deal. I mean, the track was full. We'll keep our heads up and go on next week to Nashville." ARE YOU OKAY? "I'm good. It depends on who you ask. A lot of my family says I'm crazy anyway (smiles). I'm all right. The car is pretty bad, though. I don't know if we are going to be able to get it back out there today or not." COULD YOU ALMOST SEE THIS ACCIDENT COMING? WERE GUYS ACTING CRAZY? "It's plate racing. You're going to be running three and four wide no matter what. Even if you don't want to sometimes you get shoved up there. Everybody knows it going into it that you are going to have situations like that; hopefully you are not caught in the big one. Today we weren't that fortunate."

COY GIBBS IN NO. 18 MBNA PONTIAC WAS THE RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE OF THE RACE AT TALLADEGA. GIBBS FINISHED NINTH, HIS BEST CAREER BUSCH SERIES FINISH. THIS IS GIBBS' SECOND CONSECUTIVE TOP-10 FINISH. HE ALSO FINISHED 10TH AT TEXAS LAST WEEK.

"If we could have stayed there on the lead lap we could have had a better finish but those guys aren't going to follow me. I proved that today a couple of times. It was a good finish for us. I don't know if it was much of a race but it was a good finish." YOU MADE A LATE STOP FOR GAS. WAS THERE ANY HOPE OF STRETCHING THE FUEL MILEAGE TO THE END? "I don't think we were. Really, we probably weren't in a situation to gamble. We were already running way down there." WERE YOU CLOSE TO THE BIG WRECK? "I think you always come close to that. I saw it happen pretty early so I think I saved myself. I just pulled down to the apron and slammed the brakes on. I didn't really have to move anywhere. That wiped out about half the field I think. I don't know, I didn't even see. It kind of hurts the race when you do that." DOES THAT MAKE THE RACE EASIER FOR YOU AS A DRIVER? "It was extremely boring in the middle section when I was following the 5 and I couldn't catch up with the lead pack. There's nothing you can do and it's frustrating, really." IS IT BETTER, THEN, TO HAVE A BUNCH OF CARS AROUND TO PUSH AND PULL YOU? "I think I learned more doing that but it's kind of like what these races are coming to, though. It's not bad either way, really." DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING HERE THAT YOU CAN TAKE TO DAYTONA? "I think so. Every time I get on the track I learn something. I think it helped a little bit." HOW BIG IS IT FOR THE TEAM TO HAVE TWO CONSECUTIVE TOP-10 FINSIHES? "They are some ugly top-10s but the crew is excited about them. That's my fault: we probably should have been up front here. I made some bad moves. They are top-10s so we'll take them. A couple of months from now no one will see what they were." DO YOU NEED MORE LAPS AT THE PLATE RACES TO BE MORE EDUCATED AS TO KNOW WHAT TO DO? "I need to get that yellow sticker out of the back of the car because they are not going to follow you one bit, that's for sure."

GIBBS RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE

"I guess any top-10 is a good finish for you when you are a Raybestos® Rookie. I can't say that it was real exciting but we just stayed out of trouble and missed the big one. TALK ABOUT YOUR PREPERATION FOR TODAY'S RACE AT TALLADEGA. "I find it to be one of the easiest weekends. What are you going to do? You are not going to go out there and pick up two-tenths on your own. There's no pressure in qualifying, just kind of hang out all the time and just go out there and run the race and try to miss the big one. We did and it worked out good for us."

CHASE MONTGOMERY, NO. 27 TRIMSPA PONTIAC, FINISHED 13TH:

"When we missed that first wreck it kind of messed the valence up a little bit and the car wouldn't suck up like we'd like. We hung right in there. We were right in the mix of things and had it gone green some of those guys might have run out of gas and we might have been right there at the end. We took a ride at the end. We stuck the nose under Jamie there and got a run on the 46. I don't know what happened. I kind of got into the 1 a little bit and went around. It's disappointing. Those guys worked hard all week, all day. We had a great car. We could have come home top-10. It's just disappointing for those guys." WHEN YOU SPUN, WERE YOU LUCKY TO DRIVE THE CAR AWAY? "At least we didn't hit anything. I tried driving it right back around to the pits and ended up blowing a couple of tires and it tore the fenders off it. I'm disappointed. We'll get it fixed and we'll get back to Daytona." ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE WAY YOU RAN OR ARE YOU STILL DISAPPOINTED? "Still disappointed. We only lost three spots but I would have rather come home with a clean car and those three spots. But you never know." WHAT'S YOUR SCHEDULE LIKE FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR? "We're going to Nashville and then we're going to California. After that, it's just kind of a hope-and-see deal. We're waiting for sponsorship dollars and if we get 'em we're going to some more races."

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